Faculty of Science news

A research team led by neuroscientists Drs. Daniel Levitin and Vinod Menon, from McGill and Stanford Universities, analyzed the scores of close to 2,000 musical compositions written by more than 40 composers over the last 400 years in a large variety of Western musical genres. They discovered a mathematical formula governing the rhythmic patterns to which every single piece of music conformed.

Register until April 4 for the Mini-Science 2012 series, presented by leading McGill scientists, starting with 'Dr. Joe' on the chemistry of pain and covering many major aspects of pain science, from molecular and neural pathways to the psychological modulation of pain.

A team of researchers led by McGill neuroscientist Terence Coderre, who is also affiliated with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, has found the key to understanding how memories of pain are stored in the brain. More importantly, the researchers are also able to suggest how these memories can be erased, making it possible to ease chronic pain.

[Following a violent robbery, Joël] Coutu’s ordeal was just beginning. For years he would be tormented by violent nightmares, panic attacks brought on by the mere hint of aggression around him, and severe depression—signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In line with the recommendations of the Jutras Report, we’re working hard to improve every our emergency communications planning. To help, on Jan. 31 we’ll launch new software called Alertus that allows us to send pop-up announcements to your computer if an urgent situation arises. People using laptops, Macs or non-ICS-supported desktops will need to install this software manually.

As a supramolecular chemist, Hanadi Sleiman found herself strongly drawn to manmade DNA structures. 'We think of DNA as the most programmable structure there is. I thought - if it is - let me try to incorporate it into regular supramolecular structures,' says the professor at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

(Chemistry professor Joe Schwarcz): A child born into a wealthy family is said to have "been born with a silver spoon in his mouth." The silver represents wealth, but thanks to the "oligodynamic effect," it may even have a connection to health.

Researchers have discovered they can induce supersoldiers in Pheidole ant species that never had them before.
These supersoldier anomalies represent dormant ancestral potential that can be invoked by changes in the environment. These findings are groundbreaking for evolutionary theory, because they show there is dormant genetic potential that can be locked in place for a very long time.

In 2006, while collecting ants on an abandoned property in central Long Island, biologist Ehab Abouheif of McGill University noticed eight unusually oversized ants. They were anomalies to the region, but looked similar to the so-called "supersoldier" ants found in the American Southwest.